Will please turn with me in your Bibles to John's Gospel, John chapter one. John chapter one, I'll read verses one to 18. John 1, beginning in verse 1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light, which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, This was He of whom I said, He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.
And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace, For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." Amen. Well, let us pray.
Father in heaven, we thank you for this blessed Sabbath. We thank you for the Lord's Day, for the opportunity to gather together, to come to the Father through the Son and the power of the Holy Spirit. And we pray that God would be all in all in this place, that you would be worshipped and glorified, that you would be exalted and adored. and that God, as we sing and as we pray and as we look at Holy Scripture, we would take every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ. And even now, as we come to John's Gospel, specifically verse 14, we pray that you would bless us with the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit, that we may appreciate, that we may stand in awe that the Word became flesh, that Jesus came down from heaven for us men and for our salvation.
And may these things encourage us to worship you, to express gratitude and thankfulness to you for your loving kindness and your grace and your mercy. Forgive us now for all sin and transgression. And Lord God, we pray that your Holy Spirit would work in the hearts of those who have yet to come to the Lord Jesus. We pray that they would see this one who is full of grace and truth as one who is altogether lovely and chief among 10,000 and the one in whom is salvation.
And we ask this through Christ Jesus, our Lord, amen.
Introduction
Well, we just sang a particular stanza in the hymn book that is most excellent and I think rightly reflects what we're going to look at today in verse 14. We sang, Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord. Late in time behold him come, offspring of the virgin's womb. Veiled in flesh the Godhead see.
Hail the incarnate deity. Pleased as man with men to dwell Jesus, our Emmanuel. A most excellent sort of summary statement concerning the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. John Calvin said with reference to the incarnation, or at least it's been ascribed to him.
I've also heard it ascribed to Augustine. I'm not quite sure who said it, but somebody said it and it goes like this. The son of God became the son of man so that the sons of men could become the sons of God. And I think that is a great explanation of verse 14 as well.
And this morning, I want to look at verse 14 under two considerations. First, the incarnation of the word, and secondly, the glory of the word. Now, the word incarnation simply means coming into flesh, and that is precisely what John says happens with reference to the second person of the Blessed Trinity, namely the Word of God.
The Incarnation of the Word
So, in the first place, let us look at the incarnation. According to verse 14, John says, and the Word became flesh.
Identity of the Word
Now, we ought not to be puzzled as to the identity of the Word because John's already talked about the Word in the preceding verses. Notice in verse 1, the Word was in the beginning with God and the Word was God. It is most important that we identify John's theology in verse 1. The Bible teaches there is but one true and living God who exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We need to maintain not only the oneness of God in terms of essence or substance, but we need to maintain carefully the distinction between the persons of the Godhead. There is that distinction. On the one hand, we want to avoid the error of what's called monarchianism, to see the Father as God and then the Son and the Spirit as subordinate to Him. But on the other hand, we want to avoid what's been called modalism.
It is not the case that there's this one God who's appeared as Father, and then Son, and then Spirit. There are three distinct persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And in John 1.1, John not only identifies the word with God, but he also identifies the word as God. And so John's theology is robustly Trinitarian, and he is presenting to us the glory of the incarnation, specifically in verse 14.
So in the beginning, according to verse 1, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word was the agent of creation. The reason that I bring this up is because John does in verse 3, but as well to say this, that John speaks of Jesus as the Word. The Greek word for Word there is logos.
And the word logos has a very intricate history in philosophical use that I'm simply not going to get into, but I do want us to appreciate some of the Old Testament context with reference to this. In the Genesis account, Genesis chapter one, it's God said or God spoke. It was by the word of his power that he called creation into being. Now scripture identifies that word here and tells us that he was the responsible agent for the creation account.
We see that in Colossians 1 and as well in Hebrews chapter 1. Hebrews chapter 1. So we have this word that was in the beginning with God and was God. The word was the agent of creation.
And then as well, continuing in John's prologue here, the word was in the world. The world was made through him. and the world did not know him according to verse 10. And then in verse 11, he came to his own, but his own did not receive him. So Christ was the Messiah, as Steve read there, the history of Israel testified concerning this coming one, concerning this champion, concerning this beloved that would come and save his people from their sins.
Well, that's Jesus. He came to his own, but his own receives him not. But then in verses 12 and 13, as many as do receive him, they are given the right to become the children of God Almighty. So the word of verse 14 is the second person of the Trinity who was in the beginning with God and was in fact God.
This word is also referred to by that terminology in 1st John 1.1 and then again in Revelation 19.13. So when we read verse 14 and it says, the Word became flesh, we need to understand the identity of the Word. It's Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, left heaven above to come into this world.
And as John stipulates here in verse 14, He became flesh. And that is the incarnation of the word. So the apostle moves from the beginning, verse one, to the son, or to the second person of the Trinity, or to the word, coming in and living amongst men. We might ask the question, well, how could such a thing ever occur?
He is in the beginning with God, and He is God, and now He comes to His own, and His own received Him not. What happened such that the second person of the Trinity comes down now and occupies the same space, the same history, the same time with His contemporaries? Well, that's the emphasis of verse 14. The Word became flesh.
Again, the word incarnation, both in Greek and in Latin, means coming into the flesh. And notice the language that John utilizes in verse 14. The word became flesh. So he was always, as the second person of the Trinity, there never was a time when the Son was not.
He's always been. From everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. He never stopped being what he was essentially, but he became flesh. He took on our humanity, and in the language of our confession of faith, it says He did take upon Him man's nature with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin.
And when John says the Word became flesh, we're supposed to understand everything that is true of man was true of the Word. It's not just a part of flesh, not just a bit of our humanity, but Christ, in fact, assumed true humanity. In the language of the Geneva Bible, it says, that is, with reference to flesh, man, so that the part is taken for the whole. For he took upon him all our whole nature, that is to say a true body and a true soul.
True Humanity of the Word
Now the apostle Paul does something similar in 2 Corinthians 8, 9. He tells us, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, again, according to his essence, according to his position as the second person of the Trinity, yet for our sakes or your sakes, he became poor. He became poor through taking on our humanity. And as the confession of faith says, all the essential properties and the common infirmities thereof and yet without sin.
It really is an incredible reality. The incarnation of our Lord is most glorious, most wondrous and most excellent. And it's something that we ought to occupy ourselves with because if we're wrong here, we're wrong with reference to salvation. Jesus taught in John 8, if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins.
In other words, we need to get Christology right. We need to understand that what John is talking about here is what later would be called the hypostatic union. You have the one person of our Lord Jesus Christ in two natures, both human and divine. And as we look at this particular passage, again, it's important for us to understand that he never stopped being the Word.
He didn't temporarily suspend his privileges as deity and become a man. He never ceased to be the second person of the Trinity when he takes on our humanity. Again, that hypostatic union, our confession of faith. And I'm leaning on this because throughout the Church, the history of the Church, you see littered Christological heresies.
You see people messing up at this particular point. Some would suggest that the Lord Jesus took on a human body as if it was a flesh suit, that there wasn't really a true humanity. It was just sort of a suit that he wore and he functioned as God in a body. That's not true.
He took on our humanity. He assumed our flesh. not only our flesh, but that reasonable soul as well. The Scripture declares for us that He was, in fact, holy man, and that's something that we need to maintain. And with reference to this union of the natures in the one person, we want to make sure that we understand, with the Confession, rightly reflecting the history of the Church in our better moments, It says, so that two whole, perfect and distinct natures were inseparably joined together in one person without conversion, composition, or confusion.
Which person is very God and very man, yet one Christ, the only mediator between God and men. Again, you can't be wrong here. The history of the church is filled with all kinds of persons that missed it with reference to the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's not what we want here.
You need to understand who he is. You need to understand this union of the natures in the one person. You need to understand the glory of the incarnation, the reality that he does come down. for us men and for our salvation. On this point, the Word remaining, the Word, while He assumes our humanity, Cyril of Alexandria said, He came forth a man of a woman, not casting aside His being as God and the fact of His having been begotten by the Father.
Even in the assumption of our flesh, He remained what He was. So he doesn't divest himself or empty himself or set aside or lay aside his essential glory, his deity, his power, his magnificence, but rather he in the incarnation becomes flesh. The Word became flesh. And then in terms of the significance of this, I can do no better than the Nicene Creed.
He came down from heaven for us men and for our salvation. What is the demand of God with reference to entering into the presence of God? It's holiness, it's righteousness, it's obedience to the law that's perpetual, that's perfect, that's exact, that's entire. That is God's demand and God's requirement, but we failed.
In Adam all die. And as positionally in Adam, it's from that vantage point that all of our actual transgressions proceed. We sin against God. We rebel against God.
We transgress His law. We lack conformity unto it. There is nothing about God that is drawing us. There is no fear of God before our eyes.
We don't seek Him. We don't want Him. We don't delight in Him, as we were created to do. So Christ comes down for us men and for our salvation.
He assumes our humanity so that He can live in light of that law. He can obey the Father, every jot and tittle of God's law. He does it. He fulfills it.
And then He goes to that cross on our behalf, and there is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We need that perfect one, we need that spotless one, we need that holy one, that harmless one, in order to save us from our sins. In fact, the great contender for the Christian faith, Athanasius, used this as a proof concerning the deity of Jesus Christ. He says that only God Himself could save fallen humanity.
That is a great statement concerning the reality of what we have, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He became flesh in order to render perfect obedience, both active and passive, to the Father. He came and saw Him to save us men and to produce that eternal life. Now, in terms of the true humanity of Jesus Christ, we could literally be here all day, turning page after page after page to display the true humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But we will just consider a few things. He's born of a woman. The birth narratives record that for us. He's in the womb of the Virgin Mary and he is born.
Galatians 4, the Apostle Paul says, in the fullness of the time, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, and we see that with reference to Mary. She's found to be with child, and then they bear, she bears this child, and Joseph does what he's been commanded by the angel, and he names him Jesus, for it is he who will save his people from their sins. We see in Luke's gospel that he increased in knowledge and understanding or knowledge and wisdom among men. Again, that's not specified concerning the second person of the Trinity.
There's no need for growth or maturation in terms of who God is. We are not Mormons with reference to a progressive God, but that's with reference to his humanity. That's according to his humanity, the fact that the word became flesh and dwelt among us. As well, he ate.
He drank. He worked. He dignified work. Next time we don't want to go to work, we ought to consider our blessed Savior at work.
He rested. Remember that instance where he's on the boat with the disciples and he takes a pillow and he lays down and he has a nap. Well, that's not according to his deity, because God doesn't slumber, God doesn't rest, God doesn't weary, God doesn't need naps, but according to his humanity, the Son of Man rested. We know as well that he suffered.
We know as well that he died. We know as well that he was resurrected from the dead. This one became flesh. He didn't just add it to his deity, but he assumed our humanity.
Everything that is unique to man was unique to this God-man. Again, he never ceased being the second person of the Trinity. He never divested himself of his deity, but rather, with reference to our salvation, he became incarnate. Cyril of Jerusalem made this comment.
He said, he did not pass through the virgin as through a channel, but truly took flesh and was truly fed with milk from her. He truly ate as we eat and drank as we drink. For if the incarnation was a figment, then our salvation was a figment. That's important.
Whatever is not assumed is not redeemed. If Christ did not take on true humanity, then you and I are dead in our trespasses and sins. The reality is, is that the Word became flesh. The Word was incarnate.
The Word came down for us men and for our salvation. The Word did this in order to render that perfect obedience to the written law and to render that sacrifice at Calvary. He did what we wouldn't do and what we couldn't do, and that's the beauty and the glory of the incarnation.
The Glory of the Word
Now let's look, secondly, at what John says concerning His glory. He's moving in his passage or in verse 14, he says, the word became flesh. And then he says, and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth. In the first place, he says that he was present among us.
He dwelt among us. And I think the first thing we ought to consider is how Jesus fulfills what the tabernacle and later temple stood for. What was the tabernacle in the temple about? It was about the dwelling place of God with men. veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity, pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel.
This is the glorious reality that he became flesh and dwelt among us. The particular verb there is very clear. It's to live in a tent, to settle. And I think the presence of the word among us, as John relates it, means that we ought to think, Tabernacle, temple fulfilled in our Lord.
You say, well, that's a step you're not authorized to make. Oh yeah, certainly. John chapter two, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. Well, subsequent to his death and resurrection, his theological interpreters understood that he was talking about the temple of his body.
Revelation 21 and 22, that new heavens and that new earth, what's it all about? It's about Christ. It's about dwelling. It's about presence.
It's about being in the midst of our great and our glorious God. That is the summation, the consummation, if you will, of the covenant promises of God. What's always stipulated when God covenants in the Old Testament? I will be your God and you shall be my people.
That's realized in the New Jerusalem. That's realized in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus. He is the temple of God. He is the one in whom we have communion with our gracious Father.
So
Christ as Tabernacle and Temple
the presence of the Word among us is reminiscent of tabernacle and temple, but as well the presence of the Word among us is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. When he says the word became flesh and dwelt among us, the prophet Isaiah spoke to that. Isaiah 9, 6 and 7. The prophet Micah 5, 2.
It's out of Bethlehem Ephrathah that this ruler will come forth, whose origins are from of old, from everlasting. So what we have in verse 14 concerning the incarnation of the word is the fulfillment of the prophetic witness concerning the word. And then the presence of the word among us demonstrates that Jesus Christ is, in fact, Immanuel. In fact, turn to Matthew's gospel, where you see that threefold emphasis on Immanuel, God with us.
That's precisely what Immanuel means. Jesus our Immanuel means God with us. You see that in Matthew's gospel. At verse, we'll go verse 18.
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. After his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found the child of the Holy Spirit. And Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. and she will bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." You see that threefold emphasis there.
Well, not the one I'm speaking about, but her task is to bring forth the son. That's her chosen role, her role as a chosen vessel in the Church of Christ. Sometimes Roman Catholic theology sort of represents her as being sinless herself. No, she was a sinner. in her rejoicing over the realities that would obtain with reference to her role.
She rejoices in God, my Savior, according to Luke's gospel. She was not without sin. She was not a perpetual virgin. All of that sort of mythology that has developed around her, it's not biblical.
It's without warrant. But nevertheless, she was blessed among women. She was chosen as the vessel to bring forth Messiah. And that's her particular calling.
And that's what Matthew 1.21 tells us. Joseph has a task in the incarnation as well. He's supposed to name the boy. He's supposed to give him that title, Jesus, which literally means Yahweh is salvation.
It's the Greek equivalent to Joshua that is the Hebrew word Yahweh is salvation. So you've got Mary's job, give birth to the child. You've got Joseph's job, which is to name the child, but then you have the child's job specified, for he will save his people from their sins. Again, that's the significance of the incarnation.
He came down from heaven for us men and for our salvation. That's what is absolutely crucial, to to get your minds wrapped around. If you're not a Christian this morning, you might be operating under the faulty assumption that, you know, God really doesn't wanna save. God only grabs a handful of people.
When we get to that new Jerusalem, there's gonna be like five or six or maybe eight. If that's your conception, you've misread or misunderstood the incarnation. Why does he come down? For us men and for our salvation.
If the Word who is in the beginning with God and the Word who was God comes into this world, takes on our humanity, identifies with us body and soul, and is not received by His own, and ultimately suffers and dies and is risen again the third day, why does He do this? For the salvation of sinners. Let that be a great enticement or a great encouragement or a great provocation for you to flee to the Savior, to flee to the One who does all that the Scripture declares concerning Him. And as we look at Matthew's Gospel, notice in verse 22, so all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord, through the prophet saying, behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which is translated God with us.
You see the emphasis there. It's a blessed title, terms, a word rather for our Lord, Immanuel. But Matthew's gospel doesn't let us forget that reality. Christ is with his people.
Notice in Matthew 18. Again, the name Immanuel is absent, but the concept of his presence is present. Matthew 18, 20. Well, verse 19, again, I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them. He is our Emmanuel as we gather together as the people of God. And then of course, that great statement in Matthew's gospel at the end, chapter 28, the great commission, verse 18, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
Jesus is our Emmanuel. He is our God with us. He is present. He is among us.
He is the reason for or the antitype of both tabernacle and temple. It is where God and sinners meet together. And that is the significance of John's statement. He dwelt among us.
The presence of the Word among us demonstrates that Jesus Christ is, in fact, Emmanuel to His people. But then notice,
Glory of the Only Begotten
He speaks specifically concerning the glory of this Word. Verse 14, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
The Shekinah and the Dwelling
Now, Ritterbos explains the significance here with reference to the word glory. He says the Greek word doxa, glory, is a translation of the Old Testament word kavod, and refers to a visible and powerful manifestation of God. That's what John's saying. We beheld His glory.
He goes on to say the point here is not a single sensational event. A lot of people say, well, it's the Mount of Transfiguration. That's when, as it were, Christ sort of peels back the flesh, and I speak in the manner of men, to show us His essential glory. But what Ritterbos is suggesting is that's not the point.
The point is not a single sensational event, but that glory that is attendant on the dwelling. In other words, when you looked at the tabernacle or temple, and God was present, there was a word for that. It was called the Shekinah Glory, the manifestation and presence of God. You see it clearly in Exodus 40.
The tabernacle is constructed, the glory of God comes down, and the persons of Israel, Moses included, could not enter in. because of that glory, because of that presence, because of that majesty. That's why the book of Leviticus prescribes sacrifice as the means by which the sinners can enter into the tabernacle and temple. So I think he's on the right point. The pointer is not a single sensational event, but that glory that is attendant on the dwelling.
Just as in the Old Testament, there is a persistent connection between God's presence in tabernacle and temple and the divine glory revealing itself there. See, this is what John is saying. We beheld his glory. We saw it.
It was there. It was present. This is why pictures of Jesus are wrong. You can't capture that into an image.
You can't capture that by art or devising. You can't put that on paper. It's not to suggest or say he wasn't truly flesh. He was truly flesh, but also truly God.
And in order to convey the Savior on paper, you only capture part of Him. You only give us the physicality and not the glory of deity. And so what John is saying, we beheld His glory. And as we ponder, we can honestly say all that Christ did was in fact glorious.
They saw his miracles. They saw the Mount of Transfiguration. They saw the fact that he suffered, that he died, that he was raised again. John says the Word became flesh and he dwelt among us and we beheld it.
We saw it. We witnessed it. We testified concerning it. This isn't a cunningly devised fable.
This isn't mythology. This isn't something pagan that we baptized and tried to make a nice Christian story with. No, this is the glorious truth that the second person of the Trinity called in this context, the word of the living and true God comes down for us men and for our salvation. He takes on our humanity.
He becomes flesh for us. And John says, we beheld his glory. We saw it. This is why the apostles were with him or mesmerized by him, not in some weird fanatical way, but a beholding of his glory.
And then he goes on to explain this glory that is revealed. Notice what he says, we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. I want to tell you something right off the bat. I think this is a reference to the fact of the glory as of the only begotten of the Father is a reference to His deity.
It's a reference to His essential glory as the Word who was in the beginning with God and who was with God. That next statement, full of grace and truth, I think John is speaking according to his humanity. I want to unpack that just to try and see if in fact that is the case. Notice the explanation of his glory.
We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. That's with reference to His relation to the Father as the Word. We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. The word as there is not a comparison.
He's not comparing the Word's glory with the Father's glory, but rather it is an explanation. It is an explanation of that glory. We could translate in keeping with his nature as the only begotten of the Father. The glory as of the only begotten of the Father in keeping with the nature of his position as that begotten of the Father.
And that whole idea of the begottenness of the Father, we just dealt with this in Acts 13. Steve read Acts 13, he stopped at 25. Well, in verse 33, remember what Paul does? He appeals to this doctrine of the eternal generation of the Son, because Psalm 2 teaches this.
Proverbs 8 teaches this. 1 John teaches this. John's Gospel teaches this. The entirety of the Bible teaches that Christ is the only begotten Son of the Father. Now, the sort of desire on the part of many is just to say, well, that just means he's unique.
That just means he's not like others. Well, it does mean that, but it also speaks concerning the eternal generation of the son, the relation that obtains between the father and the son. In Trinitarian theology, we look at the particular persons and we identify things that are unique to them. The father is unbegotten, the son is begotten, and the spirit proceeds from the father and the son.
Now, we often think, well, I don't know, or I can't convey, or I can't conceive of how that all works. These are given so that we maintain the distinction between the persons. Remember at the very beginning of the service, I said, we need to not only highlight the oneness of God in terms of his essence or substance, but we need to as well highlight the distinction between the persons. That's heresy too, to deny that.
It's heresy to sort of say that Jesus is subordinate to the Father in terms of who He is. That's not right. That's not good theology. That is a denial of John 8, 24.
If you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins. It's not saying I am, but a little bit less. It is these things, these properties, unbegotten, begotten, inspiration, that distinguish the persons from one another, and that is absolutely crucial. And this language, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, One modern author that teaches this truth says that Athanasius and all the Nicene theologians saw clearly that to speak of the Son of God as eternally begotten, not only safeguarded His full divinity, but also indelibly distinguished Him from the Father.
Now, it's at this point that some of you might be going, well, you know, that's not really important. It is important. Look back in church history, and as I said, it's littered with people that have messed up with Jesus. They have messed up big time.
You can mess up on some things in the Bible. I don't recommend this, but you could be wrong on eschatology. You could be wrong about the particular events associated with the second coming of Jesus Christ and still go to heaven. In fact, the early creeds and confessions in the church were called ecumenical creeds.
And the idea behind ecumenicism is to bring believers together to rejoice in the truth. But their ecumenicism was not like the ecumenicism today. The ecumenicism today says, let's sacrifice truth. Let's just put up a big tent.
And it really doesn't matter who you are or what you believe. If you can say the name Jesus, well, then you're in. Well, interestingly, these ecumenical creeds typically ended with the pronouncements of anathema. In other words, if you deny this truth concerning Jesus, then let him be anathema.
A condemnation to hell is how these ecumenical creeds function in the early church. It wasn't to try and bring in the most people with the least amount of truth. but it was rather to secure a proper confession of the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints. There's a big difference in terms of ecumenicism now and ecumenicism then. And when it comes to God Almighty, it is not only absolutely crucial to maintain His oneness, but as well His threeness.
If we deny that, then we have set up an idol and we have bowed instead of to God. So this idea of the eternal generation of the Son is what John is saying. We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. He could have easily have said, the glory as of the Word, the one who was with God and the Word who was God.
It is this glory that we beheld, it is this beauty, this majesty, this excellence that we saw and witnessed. Our confession of faith takes the same tact when it describes the relation between the persons. And again, this is crucial because you must maintain the threeness of God along with the oneness. One in one sense, three in another sense.
For a Jehovah's Witness to say, well, that's just contradiction. Evidence is that they don't have a clue what they're talking about. We do not maintain three in one sense and one in the same sense. He's one in one sense, essence, substance, and three in another sense, according to distinction, according to subsistence or person.
And our confession takes pains to make that clear in chapter two, not chapter eight, In chapter 2, with reference to God and the Holy Trinity, it says, in this divine and infinite being, there are three subsistences. The Westminster has person, same sort of idea, subsistence is probably better. The Father, the Word, or Son, and the Holy Spirit, of one substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided. See why it's wrong for Protestant and Catholic, I don't know if Catholics are doing this, but Protestants certainly are, to teach the eternal subordination of the son.
Is that what the confession says? Is Jesus eternally subordinate? No one doubts that Jesus subordinated himself to the father according to his humanity. In the incarnation, the son of God says, my meat is to do the will of him who sent me.
I always do the things that please my Father." He's speaking there according to his humanity. The idea that the Son is eternally subordinate to the Father is not biblical, and it's not confessional, and it should concern us that theologians within the Protestant fold are engaged in this sort of rhetoric. And you know, one of the ways they got there was by a denial of the eternal generation of the Son. It is crucial that we maintain those doctrines and those concepts, lest we end up as Jehovah's Witnesses.
The confession goes on to say, the Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding. Like I said earlier, we refer to the Father as unbegotten. The Son is eternally begotten of the Father. The Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son, all infinite, without beginning, therefore but one God, who is not to be divided in nature and being, and here it is, but distinguished by several peculiar relative properties, and personal relations.
It is this which distinguishes the father from the son, the son from the spirit, the father from the spirit. This language is crucial to maintain biblical orthodoxy. If we sacrifice the language, we sacrifice the dogma, and we end up being idolaters. It really is that important and that essential.
Now, a couple of weeks ago, when we were in Acts 13.33, I quoted Gregory of Nazianzen with reference to the eternal generation of the Son. You say, well, we just heard it a few weeks ago. Well, you should always try to get Gregory into a sermon, so I'm going to go ahead and quote him again. He says, the beginning of God, because we're using language in the manner of men, right?
We hear eternal generation of the Son, and we think human generation. We just go there. We move from creature and then we go to creator. We say, well, it's the case that, you know, I'm a father and I generated this son.
At a certain point, that son hadn't been. And then we impose that upon the Godhead. We're not supposed to do that. We're not supposed to reason from the creature to the creator.
That is an unauthorized movement. You cannot do that in theology and still maintain fidelity and orthodoxy. You'll end up being those who teach the eternal subjection or subordination of the son. But with reference to Gregory, and he has a great quote, if I had thought about it, I would have given that one, about doing that very thing, moving from the creature to the creator.
But in terms of eternal generation, There's something that we can lay hold of. We know that with reference to the Father and the Son, there is an unbegottenness Father, there is a begottenness with reference to the Son. The fact that it's eternal should indicate to us that there never was a time when the Son was not. There's always been the Son.
How does this eternal generation work? In the realm of God the Creator, That, we don't know, and that's what Gregory reminds us. The begetting of God must be honored by silence. It is a great thing for you to learn that he was begotten, but the manner of his generation, we will not admit that even angels can conceive, much less you.
See, it's just not the case, brethren, that we're ever going to be able to exhaust God will never be able to fully plummet the depths of God. He is Creator. We are creature. We have much more in common with a worm than we do with the living and true God.
We're part of the whole creaturely sort of existence that worms and cats and dogs and humans all occupy, but God is Creator. He's in a category all by Himself. That's why the confession highlights that He's incomprehensible. That doesn't mean we can't know anything.
God's given us in His grace and mercy 31,107 propositions, verses in the Bible, that tell us or teach us about God. But we'll never fully explore, we'll never fully understand. You may just as easily go and fetch the Pacific Ocean and put it in a coffee cup before you can exhaust who God is. If we get that, it will hopefully go a long way to helping us with humility in the theological enterprise.
Anybody who thinks they've got it all figured out doesn't. So back to Gregory. He says, But the manner of his generation, we will not admit that even angels can conceive much less you. Shall I tell you how it was?
It was in a manner known to the father who begat and to the son who was begotten. Anything more than this is hidden by a cloud and escapes your dim sight. I think that's great counsel from Gregory, and I think we ought to abide by it. That there was an eternal generation of the Son, the Bible teaches.
All of the particulars and the logistics and the details of that, as Gregory said, not even angels can conceive that. And we are a lot dimmer than they. So, that's what I think he's saying. The Word, the Word identified in verse 1, became flesh, incarnation, and He dwelt among us.
And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. In other words, when we look at Jesus, and when we saw Jesus, it was just like that. The tabernacle, the temple, where the presence and the glory and the power and the manifestation of God was there. We saw that.
But
Full of Grace and Truth
when he moves to this statement full of grace and truth, I think he's speaking about the suitability of Christ as the Savior. He is speaking about his ability. He is speaking about his work as mediator. In fact, our confession uses this text to highlight Christ's suitability for the work of mediation.
It says he might be thoroughly furnished to execute the office of a mediator and surety. And I think this is a great place to end before we move to some thoughts on application. But look at what John is saying. If you're not a Christian this morning, you're not a believer, think about what John's saying.
The second person of the triune God, the Word who was in the beginning with God, the Word who was God, became flesh and dwelt among us. And he did that in order to live in obedience to the law. He did that in order to die as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He did that to be raised the third day for us men and for our salvation.
It says he's full of grace and truth. Isn't that a pleasant way to describe it? If I were to say, I'd like you to come over today because we have a pot full of wonderful stew. That's a nice way to entice you.
I could say, come over and eat. And that's okay. Come over and eat. But I could say, we have this big pot and it's full.
It's overflowing. The wife put in extra meat. It's gorgeous. It's wonderful.
Here's what John is saying. This mediator, this prophet, priest, and king, he's full of grace and truth. I don't know where this preaching ever arose where men stand before the living and true God, who's revealed himself in these 66 books, and they've become Ebenezer Scrooge, you know, measly doling out the grace of God. He is full of grace and truth.
That ought to be an enticement to every sinner to run to him for that grace and truth. He is abundant. He is profuse. He is most glorious.
He is most suited for the task of mediation. in terms of his ability to save us man, to bring us life, to bring us joy, to bring us happiness, to bring us right connection to God. And notice in the very context, the incarnation, the son of God, this one equipped with all grace and truth is in fact the mediator of a better covenant.
Mediator of a Better Covenant
Look at verse 17, for the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Do you know what John doesn't mean there? John does not mean there was no grace and truth in the Old Testament. There's no grace and truth in the Old Covenant.
That's not what John means. John is speaking of Moses as the mediator of the Old Covenant. What kind of thing characterized that Old Covenant? Law.
He's speaking in covenantal categories. He's not saying there was no grace and there was no truth in the Old Covenant. There's a lot of grace and a lot of truth. But the identifying marker with reference to Moses' mediation over Old Covenant Israel was it was a law covenant.
It was a covenant of works. But notice what he says concerning Jesus in verse 17. He says, for the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. He's not saying there's no law in the new covenant.
He's not saying do whatever it is, just live however. No, he's talking in terms of covenantal categories. Old covenant, Moses, mediator, law. New covenant, Jesus, mediator, grace. truth, blessedness, profuseness, kindness, mercy, goodness, love.
Don't say, I don't wanna come to Jesus because I've been taught that God's only gonna save a handful. No, the word goes out today, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. What's Jesus say later in John 6, 37? All that the father gives me will come to me and the one who comes to me, I will certainly not cast out.
If your theology has taught you that he will cast you out, get rid of that theology. Cast it out, because a sinner coming to Christ in faith is received by Christ. That's what the Bible tells us. That's what it testifies concerning.
So he is the mediator of a better covenant. And notice in verse 18, he is the one that exegetes the Father. Verse 18 says, no one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is the better reading.
If you have only begotten God there, I'd cross it out and put begotten Son. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has literally exegeted Him. If you've ever talked to Isaac, who's sick this morning, so pray for him when you go home. But if you ever talk to him, he uses the word exegesis a lot, doesn't he?
He loves exegesis. Sometimes before a sermon, I'm waiting for the exegesis. That's what it is. It's a leading out of the text, the meaning that God intended for us.
It's like the word exit. It means to go out of. Exegesis is to take out of the message or out of the text what the meaning the Spirit intended. This is what it says, declared is a good, accurate translation.
This literally, the son has exegeted the father. The son can say later to the disciples in John 14, if you've seen me, then you've seen the father. He declares him, he demonstrates him, he exegetes him, he expounds him, he shows him, he declares for us who God is. And he is in fact, and I've already alluded to this, the true temple of God, John 2.
John 2, the cleansing of the temple, verse 18, the Lord Jesus, or the Jews rather, answered and said to him, What sign do you show to us since you do these things? Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then the Jews said, It has taken 46 years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days? But he was speaking of the temple of his body.
Therefore, when he had risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this to them, and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had said. So they beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. And this one is full of grace and truth. I think it's John's way to highlight that this one that I'm gonna talk about in the rest of my gospel is a God, is the word who is full of grace and truth, evidenced by the fact that he saves sinners to the uttermost.
Application and Conclusion
Well, brethren, in conclusion, with reference to the glorious person of our Lord Jesus Christ, we need to appreciate, we need to embrace what scripture teaches. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. I'd love to give everybody a quiz right now and say, what was that word I said earlier the sort of theological word that designates that reality. The one person and the two natures.
If you're thinking hypostatic union, you win. You get a gold star for today. Hypostatic union. Sometimes people say, well, I don't want all those big words.
I don't want to... Brethren, we need those big words. If I were to go see a lawyer or a doctor, I said, don't give me big words. Well, those words carry the information that we need to understand.
There's a movement in theology to just dumb it down as much as we can. Now, I think and I'm committed to try and explain things, to try to make big words simpler so that we can get our minds wrapped around. But may I encourage each and every one of us to sacrifice the big words, the very language that theology has used successfully for 20 centuries. Getting rid of those words often ends up in getting rid of the doctrine.
It's those words that help us to protect the doctrine of scripture in the early church, in the medieval, and in the Reformation period. All the good theologians recognize this. The people that oppose this sort of thing, people like Sassinians and some Anabaptists and others, well, you've got to use words that are only found in the Bible. Well, John Calvin and the rest of them said, no, we need to use words outside of the Bible at times to protect the words that are inside the Bible.
The Word Trinity. Go home, do a search in your concordance and see if you find the Word Trinity. Or go out and talk to Jehovah's Witnesses and tell them you believe in the Trinity. Well, the Word Trinity is not in the Bible.
But the doctrine is. The reality is. One true and living God who exists eternally is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And that Word Trinity helps us to protect the reality.
Do not jettison these things. The hypostatic union is crucial. Thomas Watson, speaking concerning the Word Became Flesh, he says that man should be made in God's image was a wonder, but that God should be made in man's image is a greater wonder. that the Ancient of Days should be born, that he who thunders in the heavens should cry in the cradle, that he who rules the stars should suck the breast, that a virgin should conceive, that Christ should be made of a woman, and of that woman which Himself made, that the branch should bear the vine, that the mother should be younger than the child she bear, and the child in the womb bigger than the mother, that the human nature should not be God, yet one with God. It is a glorious and a wonderful truth.
And that affirmation is required with reference to the people of God Almighty. We believe in these things, we hold dear to these things, and we will never relinquish them, nor will we let them go. I mentioned those creeds of the early church, just one of them, the Athanasian Creed, the very end. I'd read you the bit dealing with what we've discussed, but we don't have time.
But it says at the end, this is the Catholic faith. Now, don't think Roman Catholic. Catholic means universal. This is what Christians throughout the ages, Christians throughout the world must affirm.
This is the Catholic faith. It says, this is the Catholic faith, which except a man shall have believed faithfully and firmly, he cannot be in a state of salvation. You can be wrong in eschatology and be in a state of salvation. You can't be wrong with reference to the Trinity.
You can't be wrong with reference to Christology. Brethren, we ought to have more and more sermons on the Incarnation. We ought to sing these hymns more and more throughout the year. It ought not to just be located in December.
That idea of veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity, pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel, doesn't that make your heart sore? The thought, the reality behind what John is saying, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Secondly, in terms of the purpose of the incarnation for us men and for our salvation, He took on the nature of man to redeem man.
Hebrews 2. He doesn't take on angels, He takes on man. He assumes our humanity. If it is not assumed, it's not redeemed.
He was touched by our weakness as a man. Isn't that glorious as well? Isn't it wonderful to know that your Savior had the various things that we face in this world, yet without sin. but certainly understood temptation. Certainly when he's driven out by the Spirit into the wilderness and tempted by the Spirit, the devil rather, for 40 days, he understood something about humanity in that context, in that construct.
He obeys perfectly the law of God. Again, we cannot underestimate that. That was what we emphasized last Sunday in the Acts 13 there. Not only the forgiveness of sins, but justification from all things that you could not be justified by the law of Moses.
We need an obedience. We need a righteousness. We need a champion. We need a victor.
We need a savior. And Christ fulfills that. He died in our place and he was raised for our justification. Romans 4.25, he was delivered up because of our offenses and he was raised for our justification.
Watson again. says he was poor that he might make us rich. He was born of a virgin that we might be born of God. He took our flesh that he might give us his spirit. He lay in the manger that we might lie in paradise.
He came down from heaven that he might bring us to heaven. And what was all this but love? If our hearts be not rocks, this love of Christ should affect us. Behold love that passes knowledge.
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. And I don't want to end without reminding you how John ends. If you look at John's gospel, this is prologue, verses 1 to 18. It sets the stage.
It's the first word. It's the consideration of the word that is going to be revealed from the rest of chapter 1 all the way up to chapter 20. Chapter 21 functions as an epilogue. Chapter 20 is probably the formal end. 21 is still written by John under the inspiration of the Spirit, but that's functioning as epilogue.
Well, in John chapter 20, we have Thomas, the very end, saying, He affirms what John writes here in John 1.1. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Thomas, that doubter, Thomas, that skeptic, Thomas, that guy who said, I will not believe unless I touch and unless I see, sees Christ and says, my Lord and my God. Well, John then gives us the purpose for which he wrote his gospel.
In verses 30 and 31, he says, and truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written. Why? Why did John write? So you could continue in this mindset that God doesn't save?
God only saves a small handful? Is that why John wrote? I want you to see God as a sort of divine Ebenezer Scrooge. I want you to see him as a malicious, miserly figure that only doles out a little bit of his grace and only doles out a little bit of his...
That's not what John says. John says these things are written that You may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. An apostle, given the Spirit of God to move him to write this book, wrote for the purpose of sinners being saved. So if you think God doesn't really save, God's not really in the business of saving, you need to rethink your life.
You need to reorient yourself to the truth of Holy Scripture. John wrote, so that you may believe, and that believing you may have eternal life. I'll end with Edward Payson. Payson, with reference to Isaiah 9.
In Isaiah 9, 6, you have a description of the Redeemer. In Isaiah 9, 7, you have a description of his kingdom. That's how 6 and 7 function there in Isaiah the prophet, chapter 9. But with reference to those titles given by the prophet under inspiration of the Holy Spirit concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, Payson says, consult Him as Counselor, adore Him as God, be born of Him as your everlasting Father, and submit to Him as the Prince of Peace.
Amen.
Closing Prayer
Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the incarnate word who became flesh. How we praise you for this one, this blessed one who came down for us men and for our salvation.
And God, our heartfelt desire and earnest plea to you is that this gospel would be preached throughout the world and that sinners, by grace, would believe. They would repent. They would know the joy of being found in Him. And God, in a special sense, we pray that for our own meeting here.
We pray, God, that you would be gracious and merciful to open hearts to the truth of sin and wretchedness and rebellion and to the truth of a great Savior, a great champion who did what we couldn't do, who lived for us, who died for us, and who was raised for us. And God, be merciful and apply these things by the power of your Holy Spirit. And we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Well, we'll close our service by singing the doxology in praise to God, that is number five, or a version of a doxology, 564. 564, when you find that, you can stand and we will sing together. so ♪ Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel ♪ ♪ Who only knew His wondrous works in glory and excel ♪ ♪ Who only knew His wondrous works in glory and excel ♪ ♪ In glory ever sound ♪ ♪ And blessed be his glorious name ♪ ♪ Through all eternity ♪ ♪ From all earth let his glory now unend soar ♪ Amen. Amen. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
God, thank you for your glory. Thank you for your majesty. Thank you for your power, your works of creation and providence and redemption. Thank you for who you are, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Give us grace today to celebrate and rejoice in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, to rejoice in the reality that through Him we have received every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. And God, may these things draw from our hearts, worship, praise, and adoration to you, our great God. And we ask these things through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.